Ms. Gojo thought she was dating an ordinary person's boyfriend.

Sumi Kichikawa's life remains busy.

The number of patients in the pediatric outpatient clinic remains high. He spends his days going back and forth between the hospital and home, leading a simple yet fulfilling life.

However, the feeling of being constantly watched, like a bone-deep infection, did not disappear.

The first time was at the hospital entrance.

Sumiki Kawakawa had just finished her night shift and was walking to the station when she suddenly felt a gaze descending from the rooftop of the building across the street.

It seems to be confirming his route of action.

The second time was at the supermarket.

As he bought eggs and milk and was queuing to pay, the feeling of being watched flashed by from the other side of the shelf.

The night was deep, and the dim streetlights illuminated the empty sidewalk.

Sumiki Kigawa suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The gaze behind him paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.

Kikawa Sumi lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on the bag of eggs in her hand that swayed gently in the night breeze, while her mind raced, unraveling the mystery.

He knew very little about the world and couldn't immediately pinpoint the source of that gaze.

Was he an accomplice of the "monster" he casually crushed that night? Or... the blond man who called himself a "consultant" that he met at the hospital that day?

If there exists a secret organization in this world that specializes in eliminating those monsters, then it's not impossible that their unusual behavior and the traces they left behind in the hospital room that night were being targeted as destabilizing factors.

Sumi Kichikawa has traveled to too many parts of the world.

Chaotic, distorted, and dangerous.

Being tested by official agencies or followed by forces in the shadows was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

As a mission taker, he was already used to those tests.

If he were alone, he would have the patience to pretend he knew nothing and slowly wear down these spies until he had figured out all the hidden cards in this world.

But not now.

His thoughts inevitably drifted to the white-haired young man who was currently at home, perhaps still looking forward to tomorrow's tamagoyaki.

If he gets entangled with these organizations that handle dangerous incidents, they will eventually trace it back to Wu.

At that time, it will inevitably disrupt Wu's life and even drag him into those fatal troubles.

He had finally managed to get that person to lower their guard, and he would not allow any uncontrollable factors to threaten Wu's peace.

Thinking of this, Sumi Kichikawa's originally gentle gaze turned completely cold in the night.

The plastic bag swayed gently in the night breeze.

Something in the air changed very slightly.

The next second, a shadow on a distant rooftop suddenly froze.

The person hiding in the shadows didn't actually see anything.

But suddenly an incomprehensible sense of disorientation appeared before his eyes, as if the gaze he had just cast out had been grasped by something deeper.

The man's breath hitched, and he instinctively took a half-step back.

A hushed voice came through the earpiece: "What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth, but found his throat tightening.

Just then, under the streetlight, Sumi Kikawa finally slowly turned around.

The distance was too great; theoretically, the other person shouldn't have been able to see his face clearly. Yet, in that instant, the person in the shadows clearly experienced the illusion that their soul had been pierced.

The seemingly gentle and harmless doctor was looking at him precisely from a great distance.

There was not a trace of panic in those eyes.

There was only a cold, almost condescending scrutiny, as if looking at an ant oblivious to its fate.

Kikawa Sumi quickly looked away, turned around, and continued walking towards home.

He carried eggs and milk in his hand, his back to him was thin, as if nothing had happened.

The person in the shadows remained motionless for a long time.

Only when Sumi Kichikawa's figure completely disappeared at the end of the street did he suddenly collapse to the ground, panting heavily.

He looked down at his hands and found his fingers trembling uncontrollably, his back soaked with cold sweat.

Things weren't peaceful on Gojo Satoru's side either.

The summons from the General Manager's Office came extremely suddenly.

"But, Mr. Gojo, I have submitted your itinerary reports on time." Ijichi sat in the driver's seat, his tone filled with obvious confusion and unease. "The results of the recent unusual cases have also been registered, so theoretically there shouldn't be any omissions."

Gojo Satoru sat in the back seat, leaning lazily against the backrest, his long legs casually crossed, sunglasses covering most of his face.

"That means someone bypassed you to investigate."

Ichiji choked on his words: "Skip me?"

"Hmm." Gojo Satoru rested his chin on one hand, his tone light. "It means Ijichi did a good job. They couldn't find any flaws in your approach, so they had to take matters into their own hands."

Ichiji was not comforted at all, and gripped the steering wheel even tighter.

The closer you get to the old building that is the director's office, the heavier the oppressive feeling in the air becomes.

The entire room was covered by multiple layers of barriers, with faint, shimmering patterns flowing gently in the dark air, completely isolating the inside from the outside.

When Gojo Satoru got off the bus, he looked up at the eaves.

"The same old thing," he scoffed. "Nothing new."

Inside the room, six dark brown wooden paper screens were arranged in a circle.

Six elderly people sat on the floor behind a screen, all shrouded in shadow. Several white candles sat at the foot of the screen, their warm yellow flames flickering gently in the oppressive air.

The heavy, dark wooden door was pushed open.

Gojo Satoru walked straight to the center of the screen enclosure. He put his hands in his pockets and stood casually.

"What do you want from me?"

The faint, almost imperceptible noises that had just passed behind the screen vanished instantly.

An aged voice came from the shadows, tinged with displeasure: "Gojo Satoru, there are several anomalies in your recent mission logs. In several cases, the cursed spirits disappeared too quickly, and the defilement at the scene was completely inconsistent with the reports."

"Oh," Gojo Satoru replied casually.

"You didn't even offer a single explanation for this discrepancy!"

"There's no need to write something so boring."

The room fell silent.

Another male voice rang out: "The supervisory department needs to be aware of all unusual situations. You can't decide for yourself what should be reported and what shouldn't."

Gojo Satoru tilted his head slightly: "Is that so?"

His tone was flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Furthermore," the person in the shadows continued, "records show that your recent movements overlapped with those of several unrelated individuals, including that ordinary person..."

The words came to an abrupt halt.

The speaker was horrified to find that his throat felt as if it were being tightly gripped by something invisible and cold, and he couldn't utter a single word.

The air suddenly became thin, as if even the candlelight had stopped flickering.

Gojo Satoru remained standing in the same spot, his hands still in his pockets, looking no different from usual.

"Go on."

His voice was soft and his tone gentle.

"Why did you stop talking?"

No one answered.

The conference room was deathly silent; even the sound of breathing had ceased.

The person on duty outside the corridor, separated by a door, suddenly felt a void in their heart.

He didn't know what was happening inside the room; he just instinctively held his breath, his neck felt slightly numb, and his fingers were frozen beside the knife handle, not daring to move.

In the conference room, an official pressed his fingertips against his knee, subtly applying pressure until his knuckles turned white.

He could see clearly that Gojo Satoru did not make a move, or even take any action.

But the more this is the case, the more chilling it becomes.

They had always tried to constrain this person with rules and hierarchy. But everyone knew in their hearts that as long as Gotsu was willing, these rules and regulations could not bind him at all.

Someone in the corner quietly raised their hand, trying to reach for the communicator hidden in their sleeve.

The moment my fingertips moved, my whole body tensed up, as if I were locked in by an invisible force, and my limbs froze.

The man stiffly looked up—

Gojo Satoru stared straight at him.

His sunglasses were lowered slightly, revealing a faint blue light in the dimly lit room.

It was a gaze stripped of all warmth.

It felt as if some ancient and terrifying beast had choked me, leaving only a suffocating chill and trembling.

A cold sweat instantly broke out on the man's back.

"Don't move your hands," Gojo Satoru said.

The man slumped down, no longer daring to make any further moves.

"I don't care if you check my task records or monitor my whereabouts."

Gojo Satoru spoke at a slow, even gentle pace.

"I know you've always been afraid of me and always wanted to control me. You guys always try to trick me into doing things, or hold pointless meetings, but I can treat it all as playing house with you old folks."

The people behind the curtain looked extremely grim, but no one dared to speak.

"But don't get it wrong."

Gojo Satoru raised his eyes, the smile on his face vanishing completely, replaced by a chilling warning.

"I did not give you permission to lay your hands on the people around me."

Everyone in the room quietly tensed up.

No one dared to take this statement as a casual joke.

After a long while, the same aged voice rang out again, tinged with obvious stiffness and resignation: "You've misunderstood. It's just a routine check."

Gojo Satoru looked toward the shadowy spot from which the sound came, and it immediately fell completely silent, with even breathing deliberately suppressed.

Gojo Satoru smiled again.

"I see."

As soon as he finished speaking, the stagnant air began to move again.

Gojo Satoru turned and walked towards the door. Just as his fingertips were about to touch the door frame, he seemed to suddenly remember something and turned back slightly.

"I'm in a pretty good mood today, so I'm just reminding you one last time."

His smile was faint, but his eyes held a cold indifference.

"Don't try to provoke me. You won't want to know the consequences."

The wooden door closed gently, shutting out the darkness inside.

The person on duty in the corridor subconsciously took half a step back, his body stiffening.

Gojo Satoru walked past him, politely tilting his head slightly.

"Thank you for your hard work."

The person stood frozen in place, completely unable to react or even respond.

Only after Gojo Satoru's footsteps had completely faded into the distance did soft, panting sounds begin to fill the conference room.

Everyone gasped for breath, as if finally freed from the suffocating pressure, their backs already soaked with cold sweat.

Meanwhile, in a secluded basement on the other side of the city, a man with stitches on his forehead and wearing five robes was playing with a cursed object in his hand.

"He warned you?" Lu Suo listened to his subordinate's report, a hint of interest playing on his lips. "For an ordinary person?"

He stood up, walked to the whiteboard on the wall covered with intelligence, and his gaze fell on a blurry photograph taken from a distance.

In the photo, the white-haired, most powerful sorcerer is walking side by side with a black-haired youth on the street, their posture intimate and completely unguarded.

Tsuru's fingers gently traced the face of Sumi Kichikawa in the photograph.

An "ordinary person" for whom Gojo Satoru would not hesitate to warn the management and even personally cover up his whereabouts.

"Now that we have a weakness..." Lu Su chuckled softly, his voice echoing in the empty basement, carrying a chilling malice.

"Then let me see if you can remain calm when you lose him."